Family Time

As said, we did feel our trip was a good mix of activity and down time.  I think we got out of the house every day to do a little something, but as I mapped out these blog posts, I realized the best and most pictures I had were just of us sharing a meal or the kids playing together. We had lots of time to do this and I think their opportunity to reconnect became one of our favorite things about this trip.

Chris and Karen treated the whole family to an amazing Chinese feast after we had our pictures taken.  The girls were brave in trying lots of new foods, discovering many they liked, and hanging in there with the chopsticks!

Kristen took us all to see the movie Inside Out, which I can't say enough good about!  Fantastic movie (possibly one of Pixar's best?) and soooooo fun to sit in a  movie theater row with your 7 cousins!

One cool, but strange, thing for us on this visit was seeing Mom and Dad's new place for the first time!  This year they sold the big home Dave and his siblings grew up in and moved to a smaller condo.  Their new home is lovely and we're happy to see how much they love it.  We were also happy to spend several days taking advantage of the pool they now have!

Just for the sake of taking a stroll down Memory Lane, one night before dinner with Kris and Kyle we took a stroll around Grau Mill.  This was a place we grew up visiting and it was fun to head back.  Fun, that is, until the mosquitoes started eating us alive and we had to make a mad dash back to the safety of our car!

After church on Sunday we were able to spend some time with Dave's grandma.  We loved sitting around her, hearing stories about her mother-in-law, Ella's namesake.

Uncle Chris is also a chef!  He kept the incredible food flying as we stayed with them!  One morning he made a crepe-extravaganza for us!  Above, Delia gives the s'mores crepe a huge thumbs up.

For game-playing one night, our oldest children baked us cookies.

There were lots of piano performances!  Another performance we loved, but I have no pictures of was the Improv Show our kids put together for us.  With Aidan's sound effect app, Theoren's crazy costumes, and Delia on the drum set doing rim shots, it was legitimately funny!  

Lots of cuddle time with Aunties!

And games!  We played games every single day and night!

The kids had a movie night in Aidan's cool loft lounge.  Another night they all camped out together on the big sectional couch in the basement for a sleepover (which the girls will tell you was their favorite moment).  These quality times at home are truly what made the trip so great.  We're so grateful for all the hospitality and time our people shared with us!

Blackberry Farm

Another wonderful little outing, bought to us by Karen, was taken to Blackberry Farm.  Here you "go back in time", as Auntie Karen kept explaining to the kids, to experience what life would have been like in the late 1800's.  It felt pretty authentic and was very interactive; the kids did love it!

In the one room school house we learned about what the kids would have studied and how they would have been punished for daydreaming or misbehaving. 

In the blacksmith shop we watched him heat, bend, and cool off steel.  We felt like the only people at Blackberry Farm on this day, so there was lots of great interaction with the actual demonstrators in each of these houses!

In the potter's house we caught part of a clay utensil making demo.  Our little art enthusiasts had lots of questions for the potter in this house.  We also visited a weaver, a carriage house displaying all the different kids of vehicles of the day, and 2 different homes people would have lived in-- including a one-room shelter that would have had 2 parents and 8 kids crammed in it!  We all agreed we are quite content to live in the time period we live in!  But, when asked what job the kids would have liked to have had, their answers covered pretty much every one we learned about.

Blackberry farm also had some fun little rides, like this train ride.

And paddle boats.

And pony rides!

And also a merry-go-round.

Just walking around the grounds was pretty and peaceful.  It really did feel like "going back in time"-- you sold it well, Karen! :)

Our last stop was a great petting zoo and a super playground for the kids.  Unfortunately at this point in the day, we realized why we felt like the only ones at Blackberry Farm.  Huge black storm clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, the drops fell and the sirens went off!  We Californians considered getting caught in a thunderstorm to be a check on the list of things we wanted to see, but others in our group were putting on a brave face as they hurried us off the playground and back to the cars.  It was an exciting way to end the day!

Interview with Delia at 8 Years

Taking a break in vacation posts to celebrate our 8 year old Delia today!  This interview cracked me up.  Hope it gives you a glimpse at this imaginative, feisty and funny personality!

Age: 8-- TODAY!

Favorite color: Purple

Favorite food: Donuts

Favorite book: Babymouse

Favorite movie: Star Wars

Favorite song: I Like to Move It, Move It

Favorite thing to play: "My Little Pony, Little Pet Shops, my new Little Live Pet bird, and Lalaloopsy...I guess I like little stuff!"

Favorite part of school: Snack and recess

What I want to be when I grow up: A professional dancer.  (When asked to elaborate...) "I once saw a video of Star Wars characters dancing on a stage at Disneyland.  I'd like to do that.  I would be Princess Leia, or Darth Vader, if the suit wasn't too hot."

The perfect day is: Disneyland followed immediately by Legoland (When asked if she thought that would tire her out...) "Well, we'd sleep at the Legoland Hotel."

My best friends are:  Starlyn, Anika and Sarah

I hope when I'm 8, I'll... "Get to hold a real panda."

4th of July Festivities

Being with family for this Fourth of July was totally fantastic!

The kids and dads started the day with a bike ride to the farmers' market.

We ate amazing food all day.  Uncle Chris whipped up red, white and blue smoothies for the kids. He later grilled us steaks and chicken, with sides of veggies from the market, and a chorizo asparagus risotto that was probably the best thing I ate all vacation.

In the afternoon we took a short walk to the pond where the kids each caught several fish.  For Ella and Delia, who have never caught anything that wasn't farmed in an outside tank, this was especially thrilling!  Cole won for most fish caught, with 11, and Aidan won for biggest when he reeled in a humongous catfish!  I give Delia the award for bravest, though.  She was eventually de-hooking the fish herself.

Having watched a good fireworks show at the ball game the night before, we decided to go more low key on the actual Fourth and do our own little show using the pile of smoke bombs, poppers and big booming fireworks Uncle Chris got.  

This fabulous Fourth ended with some game playing, where the boys defeated the girls in 3 rousing rounds of The Bowl Game.  With all the family, farmers' market, food, fishing, and fireworks crammed into this Fourth, I think I can say it was an F'n good time! ;)

Go Cougars!

The next night, Mom and Dad were so generous to treat the entire family to a minor league Kane County Cougars baseball game.   This too was a wonderful time to laugh with and enjoy the company of our parents, brothers, sisters, nephews and cousins.

A nearby fan caught this ball and gave it to Miles!  Just love that smile!

Cole amused us all by spending almost the entire game with his glove raised high in anticipation. 

This is actually an adorable picture I got of Delia with Grandma and Grandpa, but I'm posting the funny paparazzi version of it here on the blog because it continues to make me laugh!

I have to say that between the fun food, the good company, and the back field of activities for the kids, I did not actually see much of the baseball game!  I think our team won?

This night was July 3, so the game ended with a fabulous fireworks show!  It was the first time Cole and Miles have seen fireworks, so that was a special thing to share with them.

Then, after the game, and after the fireworks, kids and parents were invited to come down onto the field to run the bases.  The dads took the kids and they had a ball (no pun intended)!

I'm telling you, on this trip we were SPOILED!  Mom and Dad treated us to this game, and then Uncle Chris got all the kids these crazy lightsabers on the way out.  Uncle Chris was SO generous over the course of the week, it got to a point that Delia would stop asking Dave and me for stuff and start going straight to him!

Brookfield Zoo

After our days in Michigan, and then U2 and our date with the professional photographer, the rest of our time (over a whole week!) had nothing on the agenda but to hang out with the VM side of the family.  In the past we've planned big downtown days, outings, and even mini-vacations inside this big Midwest trip.  We said this year's theme was "Not so much all the big stuff we did, but rather the people we did it with."  And that ended up being absolutely perfect.  Each day held small adventure and just the right amount of time to see fun things mixed with down time at home to just play and talk.

Early on, the whole family made a visit to our favorite Brookfield Zoo.  Unfortunately you won't see Delia in any of these pictures because we were just far enough into vacation for some major fatigue to show itself in the form of a terrible tantrum.   So, she stayed home to take a nap.  She was missed, but the rest of us had a nice time viewing the animals and playing in the hands-on exhibits.  Childhood memories came flooding back as Grandma bought the kids Mold-A-Rama wax animals and as they climbed on the big statue memorializing Olga the Walrus.